Spreading-roll.



UNITED STATES Patented June 23, 1903.

DAVID H. LENTZ, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

SPREADlNG-ROLL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 73 2,006, dated June 23, 1903.

Application filed March 13, 1902. Serial No. 98,033. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, DAVID H. LENTZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Joliet, in the county of \(Vill and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spreading-Rolls, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rolls for spreading billets or similar forms of steel where it is sought to roll thesame into forms of much greater Width than the original billet or blank, and while my invention is especially adaptable for use in rolling railheads into wide and thin T-plates it is ad aptable for use wherever it is sought to roll a steel blank into a thinner and wider form.

The object of my invention is to provide a roll of such form that in passing a steel billet or the like therethrough the elongating action of the roll Will be reduced to a minimum, while the laterally-spreading action of the roll upon the billet will be largely increased, whereby wide and thin plates may be formed of comparatively narrowand thick blanks or billets.

My invention is especially adapted for use in the working of so-oalled high-carbon steel. As is well understood, the action or draft of this material when heated and passed through.

rolls is such that it has a tendency, which it has been most difficult to overcome, to elongate with little or no lateral spread. In fact, it not infrequently happens that in passing through the rolls the blank will elongate in such a manner as to actually draw in at the sides, so as to be narrower after passing between the rolls than before entering the same. For this reason it has been most difficult to roll steel forms of a desired width from blanks or billets of a narrower width, and the same difficulty has seriously interfered with the economical conversion of some forms of discarded material into other forms of greater width. For instance, by means of my new rolls I have succeeded in readily rolling railheads having a width of two and a half inches into plates of from four to four and one-half inches in width, thereby making it possible to roll the heads of discarded rails into tieplates of standard widths, whereas, so far as I am aware, such a result has heretofore been impossible of attainment.

The objects above stated and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are accomplished by the rolls shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a partial cross-section through a pair of my improved rolls arranged to form the first pass for rolling a rail-head into a T-plate, the rail-head being shown in crosssection as passing between the rolls, the unrolled portion of the rail-head appearing in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of one of my rolls. Fig. 3 is a sectional view through one of my improved rolls on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view through one ofmy improved rolls on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Like letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A B are the upper and lower rolls, respectively, of'a pair which, for example, may be considered as forming the opposite sides of the first pass through which the billet or blank is to be rolled. Where a simple billet or the like is used, these rolls will preferably be exact counterparts; but where, as

illustrated in Fig. 1, the rolls are used to spread a rail-head the lower roll 13 is provided with a peripheral groove for receiving the stem of the blank formed by the web of the rail. The periphery or rolling-face of the rolls is wedge-shaped, tapering in cross-section in each direction from an apex. The apexes or lines of greatest compression of the rolls are arranged opposite to each other, so that as the heated and softened blank enters the pass between these rolls it is first caught between the approaching apexes of the wedgeshaped periphery of the rolls, and as the continued rotation of the rolls carries it farther into the pass the space between these highest points is progressively diminished, thereby forcing or spreading the steel in each direction therefrom between the diverging opposite faces of the rolls. As the blank along -IOO v and possibly stop their operation.

tion of less resistance. By means of this arrangement of'the rolls I am enabled to obtain a considerable degree of the desired spreading; but if the lateral divergence of the face of the roll from its highest point or apex is too gradual there is danger that the metal will not spread with sufficient rapidity, and so will thicken or upset in front of the rolls If, on the other hand, this divergence is too great, there is danger that the passing of the blank between the rolls will merely result in the formation of a deep groove along the upper and lower faces thereof without any material increase in the width of the blank. I therefore further secure the lateral How or spread of the metal by providing the rolling-face of the rolls with a series of wing grooves or pockets O, which in their preferred form extend diagonally backward from each side of the apex of each roll,approximately to the outer margin thereof. The bottoms of these grooves start at their inner ends atthe surface of the roll and extend downwardly therefrom, so that the grooves gradually increase in depth and also in widthtoward their outer ends, where they terminate substantially at their point of greatest widt h and depth. I have found that these grooves are effective at any diverging angle at which I have tried them; but I find them most effective in promoting the spread of the metal when disposed at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the central line of the rolling-face of the roll, as when so constructed I have been able to secure the greatest lateral spread at a single pass. The size, number, and angle of arrangement of these wing grooves will of course be varied as the exigencies of service may require and as I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat cut, is

1. A roll for the purpose described, having a wedge-shaped rolling-face in cross-section,

said rolling-face being provided with a plurality of wing-grooves extending laterally from the highest point of its periphery, substantially as described.

2. A roll for the purpose described, provided with two oppositely-disposed series of laterally-extendingwing-grooves,said grooves increasing in width and in depth from their adjacent ends outwardly, substantially as described.

3. A pair of oppositely-disposed steel rolling-rolls, having the rolling-face of the upper roll provided with a plurality of laterally and diagonally extending wing-groovesincreasing in width and depth from their adjacent ends outwardly, substantially as described.

4. A pair of oppositely-disposed rolls for the purposes described, the rolling-face of the upper roll being wedge-shaped and provided with a plurality of wing-grooves extending laterally from the highest point of the periphery, substantially as described.

5. A pair of oppositely-disposed steel rolling-rolls, having opposed wedge-shaped rolling-faces in cross-section, the apex of the face of the lower roll having a peripheral groove formed therein adapted to receive the web of rail, substantially as described.

' DAVID H. LENTZ.

Witnesses:

M. E. SHIELDS, E. SHASBERGER. 

